crazycrypt wrote:And with those orders, Tommy will heft up Brandon over his shoulder and will head towards the Captain (I'm assuming that Brandon is still unconscious, if not, he can walk with Tommy's gun in his ribs). Once Tommy finds the Captain he will tell him all of the details of what went on and then tell him Briggs asked for Bishop and Greaves to come to the Main Lounge.

"I see," replied the Captain. "Mister Bishop, Mister Greaves, please do as Leftenant Briggs has asked. Mansel, put our mutineer in the crew quarters for the moment. Seems we need a brig... we'll have to figure that out, but just now I'm a bit busy, so you keep watch on him. Leftenant Scott, you have medic training, correct? See to his wound, then join me in the lounge. Chapman, you have the bridge."

rredmond wrote:Will will stare at his surroundings and his hands, and will start at Dr. Burton's request. When Artie chimes in he will nod at the "trust" part and keep the gun. "How about I put the knife on the back table here, where it won't get hurt, but it won't get into anyone's hands. But you can watch it." He looks over at Artie for agreement that these is an acceptable solution.

rredmond wrote:Then he starts again when David talks, "let's calm down, we've got to figure out what's going on. Are we sure there are no more sabateurs aboard?" He asks half to himself to start the gears grinding, but he'll scan the crowd at his suggestion as well, to see if he catches anything.

"I'm quite sure there are no more mutineers aboard," said Lt. Briggs. "Captain Pelton and I know all the other crewmen personally, save for a couple of new hires. That would be Leftenant Mansel, who just shot this mutineer, and Mister Lars, who is hard at work with Chief Engineer Green putting our engines back to rights. So please, for the safety of all aboard, turn over your weapons to me."

Catherine retrieved the Totem, carefully avoiding the pool of blood where Brandon fell. "My dear, that's very heavy!" said Dr. Burton, but it didn't seem to trouble Catherine.

"It doesn't look damaged," she said, placing it on the table beside the bloody knife.

"You've gotten it into the blood," said Dr. Burton.

"I doubt this was the first time," she replied, moving it aside and wiping the blood off with a napkin.

Mak wrote:"Lt. Briggs, you should know what everyone in this room knows: Brandon came in here hell bent on filling Dr. Ringstrom here with lead. Called him a traitor to the Fatherland. If this were just a mutiny, he'd have been more likely to put a hole in the captain. This is something else. Political. Which means outside help. Contacts. Who parachutes into the middle of the ocean? I'm just saying: we should all keep our eyes open."

"German spies, I'd wager," replied Briggs. "They must have some reason to hate Doctor Ringstrom. What about it, sir? Can you shed any light on the subject?"

Ringstrom was sitting in a chair at the foot of the Captain's table. "I don't know," he replied, his German accent particularly thick. "I was never a member of the National Socialist party, but neither have I done anything I know of to cause them to hate me."

Solomoriah wrote:"I'm quite sure there are no more mutineers aboard," said Lt. Briggs. "Captain Pelton and I know all the other crewmen personally, save for a couple of new hires. That would be Leftenant Mansel, who just shot this mutineer, and Mister Lars, who is hard at work with Chief Engineer Green putting our engines back to rights. So please, for the safety of all aboard, turn over your weapons to me."

"That's all well and good, but you'll appreciate that we don't know any of you from Adam. We've just had two crew members burst in here -- one of them an officer -- and threaten us with death. I'll turn the gun over to Captain Pelton when I see him."

Solomoriah wrote:"I see," replied the Captain. "Mister Bishop, Mister Greaves, please do as Leftenant Briggs has asked. Mansel, put our mutineer in the crew quarters for the moment. Seems we need a brig... we'll have to figure that out, but just now I'm a bit busy, so you keep watch on him. Leftenant Scott, you have medic training, correct? See to his wound, then join me in the lounge. Chapman, you have the bridge."

"Yes sir," and with that Tommy will take Brandon to the crew quarters as ordered. Once there he will wait for Leftenant Scott to bandage up Brandon and for Scott to leave. Once Scott leaves, Tommy will keep him tied up and attempt to wake him and interrogate him to see why him and the others did what they did.

Mak wrote:"That's all well and good, but you'll appreciate that we don't know any of you from Adam. We've just had two crew members burst in here -- one of them an officer -- and threaten us with death. I'll turn the gun over to Captain Pelton when I see him."

Lt. Briggs stared at Artie, darkly, for a few moments. "Fine, do what you want. Do you know how to use that thing? You might be more dangerous to the other passengers than you think. At least set the safety, if you know how, and put it away."

As Greaves began tending to Lily, Bishop and Briggs conferred quietly about the disposition of the corpse; finally, Bishop left, returning shortly with several sheets, and together Bishop and Briggs rolled the remains of Neville into them, wrapping him up thoroughly. The two men then lifted the body by the ends of the sheets and carried him from the room.

For a few moments, all was quiet. Everyone seemed too stunned to speak. Will and Artie saw that Violet and David had resumed their chairs, and watched as Jean-Paul righted the toppled tables and chairs before sitting down beside Violet.

A flash of light drew Artie's attention to the forward windows. Looking up, he saw it again... lightning. Even as he saw the second flash, he heard the crack! of the first. It seemed the clear night was suddenly becoming cloudy and threatening.

crazycrypt wrote:"Yes sir," and with that Tommy will take Brandon to the crew quarters as ordered. Once there he will wait for Leftenant Scott to bandage up Brandon and for Scott to leave. Once Scott leaves, Tommy will keep him tied up and attempt to wake him and interrogate him to see why him and the others did what they did.

Responding to Mansel's ever more insistent slapping of his face, Brandon finally awoke. He said something in German (or so it sounded to Tommy) before opening his eyes. Seeing Mansel before him, and realizing that he was bound, Brandon snarled, "So you've captured me, and now I suppose you intend to interrogate me. Well, it won't do you any good. I'll talk, but it's too late for you now... the engines are ruined, and the ship is sinking!"

Green yelled at Lars, over the roar of Number Two, "One down, son, one to go. How does it look?"

Simon had removed the heads from the engine, and discovered just three seized pistons. That was the good part. The bad part? It would take hours to pull the two affected cylinder blocks, drive out the seized pistons, and install a replacement set. And the worst part? If either cylinder block was too badly damaged, they would not be able to restart the full twelve cylinder engine.

"Well," said Green, having looked the situation over, "If worst comes to worst, we can leave out four pistons, to keep it in balance, block off those carburetors, and it'll run. We'll be better off with one and two-thirds engine that just one... we can't proceed against any sort of headwind with just one engine."

"One way or the other, it'll be hours before we get this done. I'd better let the Captain know," said Green, turning to the telephone. He dialed the bridge, then stepped out into the passageway, closing the door so as to be able to hear.

Solomoriah wrote:Responding to Mansel's ever more insistent slapping of his face, Brandon finally awoke. He said something in German (or so it sounded to Tommy) before opening his eyes. Seeing Mansel before him, and realizing that he was bound, Brandon snarled, "So you've captured me, and now I suppose you intend to interrogate me. Well, it won't do you any good. I'll talk, but it's too late for you now... the engines are ruined, and the ship is sinking!"

"You may be right about the engines, however, that's not something I'm concerned with at the moment. Now, start talking." If he starts proving troublesome and unwilling to talk then Tommy will look for something sharp like a pocket knife to be a little bit more threatening as he doesn't want to have to shoot him just yet.

OOC: Only Artie saw the number six being dialed. My bad. Sorry about that.

IC: Will will nod quietly, but with relief, in agreement to Artie's insistence on keeping the guns. And will set the safety as one who knew it was there, but hadn't done it that often. Keeping his eye on everyone but Artie at this point, he waits for the captain.

OOC: I know I typed it in mid-gunfight, but did anything come of me rifling through Brandon's pockets. I'm assuming I only had time to get the weapon, but wanted to check.

Solomoriah wrote:Lt. Briggs stared at Artie, darkly, for a few moments. "Fine, do what you want. Do you know how to use that thing? You might be more dangerous to the other passengers than you think. At least set the safety, if you know how, and put it away."

Artie nods and very carefully sets the safety before sliding the gun into a coat pocket. He's never fired a gun in action before, and hopes he won't ever need to. Still, he's seen and handled weapons of various kinds, if only because the mobsters who frequented the speakeasies and jazz joints of big-city America generally found it amusing to try to awe the piano player with their pistols and machine guns. He'd always played along, pretending to be impressed by the bravado of these toughs and their heaters. He knew it was an act they needed to put on to survive, but he'd seen the other side, too -- gutshot toughs wailing for their mothers like any other dying man.

Solomoriah wrote:"Mister Greaves was a medic in the army," said Briggs to Lily, in a more gentle tone of voice. "He'll see to you shortly, never fear. Are you in much pain?"

A flash of light drew Artie's attention to the forward windows. Looking up, he saw it again... lightning. Even as he saw the second flash, he heard the crack! of the first. It seemed the clear night was suddenly becoming cloudy and threatening.

Artie hovers near Lily as Greaves works. He decides to see if he can solve the mystery of line 6 by questioning the steward who, as it happens, wasn't in the room when the dangling phone was discussed earlier. "Mr Greaves," he begins sotto voce, "do you happen to know what part of the ship each phone line reaches?" Rather than asking Greaves specifically about line 6, Artie will try to see if he can get Greaves to list as many as he can, including 6.

OOC: Is the bullet that struck Lily still in her arm? If not, did it hit anything else in the lounge?

rredmond wrote:OOC: I know I typed it in mid-gunfight, but did anything come of me rifling through Brandon's pockets. I'm assuming I only had time to get the weapon, but wanted to check.

Will had slipped Brandon's wallet and notepad out of his pockets; now he took a moment to look them over. In the wallet, Will found a few small British banknotes and the usual identity papers. Apparently, his full name was "John Percival Brandon," and he supposedly came from Leicester. The notepad contained only a few notes regarding time of departure and his personal schedule. There was nothing Will could see that was incriminating about the things from Brandon's pockets.

Mak wrote:"Mr Greaves," he begins sotto voce, "do you happen to know what part of the ship each phone line reaches?"

"Certainly," he replied, intent on his task. "Did you wish to call someone? The ship's telephones are really just for crew use."

Mak wrote:OOC: Is the bullet that struck Lily still in her arm? If not, did it hit anything else in the lounge?

Looking around, Artie noticed a fist-sized hole near the corner of one of the starboard windows. He didn't remember the sound of glass breaking, but then there were probably other things he didn't remember from the last half hour...